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Mass of Christian burial will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at St. Thomas Church, Fort Thomas. Visitation will be from 5 to 8 tonight at Muehlenkamp-Erschell Funeral Home, Fort Thomas. Prayers will be at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at the funeral home. Burial will be in St. Stephen Cemetery, Fort Thomas. Memorials are suggested to St. Luke Community Foundation, 85 N. Grand Ave., Fort Thomas, Ky. 41075. Broadus Roland, 78, of Seaman, Ohio, formerly of Walton, died Saturday at Brown County General Hospital, Georgetown, Ohio. Arrangements are pending at Chambers and Grubbs Funeral Home, Walton.

Robin Spicer, 44, of Newport, died Saturday at St. Luke Hospital West, Florence. She was a bus driver with the Newport Board of Education. Survivors include a son, Mark Anthony Spicer of Newport; daughters, Tracy Case of Bellevue and Erica Perry of Latonia; her mother, Edna Spicer of Newport; a sister, Kitty Carpenter of New York; a brother, Nick Spicer of Newport; and a grandson. Services were at noon today at Cooper Funeral Home, Grants Lick. Burial was in Pleasant View Cemetery, Verona.

Hannah Breeden White, 73, of Dry Ridge, died Sunday at her home. Arrangements are pending at Elliston-Stanley Funeral Home, Williamstown. Our professional property valuators offer an expert service for the Litigation Property Valuations. While Hamilton County voters prepare to vote Tuesday on a half-cent sales tax for a light rail system and expanded bus service, Northern Kentucky is still exploring its options — all of which face political and legal hurdles — on how it might pay for its share of a new regional transit network. Other counties throughout southwestern Ohio similarly are in the preliminary stages of deciding how they might fund extensions of the light rail lines and bus routes envisioned under the MetroMoves plan before Hamilton County voters next Tuesday.

Though some Northern Kentucky and Warren County leaders are enthusiastic about linking their communities to Hamilton County’s central system, they concede that tough funding decisions loom ahead. “The good news is that the planning work has included Northern Kentucky all along,” said Mark Donaghy, executive director of the Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky. “Given the level of engineering that has already been done, we can catch up pretty quickly.”

But TANK, which is leading the light-rail effort south of the river, doesn’t have the taxing authority of its sister organization, the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority, which directly put the Hamilton County sales tax on the ballot. Unlike SORTA, Metro’s parent organization, TANK has no authority to place a sales tax levy on county ballots in Northern Kentucky.

“If they didn’t have a day like this I don’t know that we would make a point to do this,” Stansberry said. “I’m looking forward to getting feedback from customers.” Larry Misleh, general manager of the LaRosa’s restaurant at 75 Carothers Rd. in Newport, made his restaurant permanently smoke free almost two years ago. Before making the restaurant smoke free, he had special sections in his restaurant property solicitors sydney.

“We had too many complaints from non-smokers as far as smoke drifting to the smoking side,” he said. Conveyancing company has developed cost effective, efficient, yet comprehensive conveyancing systems for residential purchases and sales. And people would come in and ask for non-smoking and we couldn’t seat them. They refused to sit in the smoking section.”

He said it wasn’t unusual to have up to 15 people waiting for non-smoking seats while smoking seats sat empty. “Occasionally we’ll have a smoker come in now and they’ll leave because they can’t smoke,” he said. “But changing didn’t affect our business one bit. We didn’t drop down in sales at all.”

He said restaurant workers like it because tables turn over more quickly. “Smokers tent to sit around after their meal smoking and talking,” he said. “In this business, a quick turnaround on tables is everything.” This is the second year for the Smoke-Free Day of Dining, and the number of participating restaurants has doubled, said Health Department Spokeswoman Peggy Patterson.

“This gives restaurants a chance to try non-smoking and see how their customers feel about it,” she said. The Cancer Society’s annual Great American Smokeout encourages smokers to choose that day to pledge to stop smoking. Health Department Director Gary Crum noted Kentucky has the highest adult smoking rate in the country.

He said smoking not only causes cancer, but it is the most common cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which includes chronic bronchitis, emphysema and asthma. The American Cancer Society offers these tips to stop smoking:

Prescription and over-the-counter medications can help deal with withdrawal symptoms or reduce the urge to smoke.

Clear anything that reminds you of cigarettes from the places you usually smoke. Ask other smokers not to smoke around you. Clean your house and car to remove the smell of cigarettes.

Alter habits that you may associate with smoking. Drink juice or water instead of alcohol or coffee. Take a different route to work. Take a brisk walk instead of a coffee break.

Avoid places where smokers gather. Go to movies, museums or other places where smoking is not allowed.

Calm any nervous energy with physical and mental activities such as long strolls, deep breaths of fresh air, crossword puzzles or gardening.

When you get the urge to smoke, do something else. Call a friend, do exercises. Keep oral substitutes handy such as carrots, apples, raisins or gum.

Smokers who want to quit can find help from the Cooper/Clayton Program, which offers them use of the nicotine patch. The program is provided by the Northern Kentucky Independent District Health Department in collaboration with the Kentucky Cancer Program, Northern Kentucky University, Glazo-SmithKline and St. Elizabeth Medical Center.

Information is available from the Health Department, (859) 341-4264 or the American Cancer Society, (513) 891-1600.

Home improvement is of paramount importance when a home is sold, bought or considered for refinancing or mortgage or just making home improvements before Christmas. House valuation is a part of the selling event in any property life. And if the seller wants the figure of amount on the report of house valuation go a little up which any seller would like to then there are simple ways one can do to brand their small properties and market them at a higher cost price.

A Home improvement project can be equaled to any attractive useful packaging you give to a brittle product to be imperishable for a longer period of time. Pre and post house valuations of property before and after improvements by renovations or any kind of up gradations will definitely give a boost to the prices by of the property valuated by the property valuer on the paper. Some buyers create a separate budget for home improvement after buying the property. It is equally suggested when the sellers go for selling a property how to fetch more price for property by home improvements. There is a range of inexpensive ways to renovate the property. There are clear differences as to how you can add value to the process itself. Home improvement is an added investment just like any fixed deposit or recurring deposit you have in your bank.

A few tips from experts can take one a long way in inching the price of their house property during valuation:

Some fit in pocket size suggestions to add value to your house Property:

The easiest and low costing ways to change the way you’re the home looks is by making little laboring, decorating and landscaping. This sounds so much costly an affair but there is ways to do it. How do you do this is the next question?

Home improvement projects necessarily do not need the house owner to hire a foreman or worker. Sometimes, some easy projects can take shape and do it yourself kits can be brought at home. Even the labor fees costs somewhere between half to two thirds of the whole home improvement projects. Also if one chooses to do it their own, there is a scope to make savings there.

The whole task can fall under one umbrella and that is ‘second fix’ trades such as fitting tiles of bathrooms, getting attractive taps, renovating the kitchen with kitchen wardrobes and fitting sink taps and fitting attractive sink. Buying new electronic permanent fixtures

like fancy fans and energy saver tube-lights. Laboring doesn’t necessarily means a partial mansion work here. It could be resetting the whole furniture, replacing some and dumping dilapidated ones. It could be a simple add on of value through varnishing. One can figure out how much can one spend on the each changes being made. Of course, if it is done as a huge repair it would definitely take some simple intermediate steps such as ordering and purchasing tiles, fixtures, custom-built vanity or cabinets. One has to make sure that it is delivered when the contractor needs them if there is one hired.

One can hire a Vast expert too to boost the value of the house the Indian way and following some scientifically established rules of how a house should be; few list of considerations like; where the kitchen should face, how the bed-cots should be placed to the sleeping positions, which way to open the windows, which direction does the main door should be opened to, if the direction is not proper then how can this be corrected?, or on which side of the house is the sewage, drainage to the opened to. Some of the mentions ways can create you House property Valuation a surprising event of your life when a seller identifies his little efforts through small steps have actually acted as bank deposits fetching healthy interests.

An authentic property valuation requires extensive industry know-how, absolute awareness of the prevailing rules and regulations, geographical awareness as well as skills to market the property rightly. It can be highly disappointing to have your home loan application rejected owing to the loan amount reduction since the valuation figures resulted below anticipation.

Investors at regular intervals have their properties revalued so as to finance supplementary investments. The core aspects to center around valuation are the size, functionality of the house and the size and location of the land. A positive valuation thus emanates from choice of property primarily. Experts opine that there are various things to be done so as to make sure you receive the best valuation probable.

1. Staging: How you design the stage i.e. the appearance and presentation of your property can drastically benefit or harm your property’s valuation. It is equally important to devote reasonable attention and efforts to design, preserve the gardens as they need to be tidy since a value is also attributed to them as well. The surroundings and outlook of the entire property also should appeal and enlighten the property valuer as to a buyer.

2. Latest Sales Figures: Documenting the recent sales prices data of your surrounding vicinity properties may also be furnished to the property valuer as these can give a fair idea of the local market to the valuer. Attending local auctions can give enough data of sales scenario too.

3. Exhibit Integrity: It is also fruitful to be honest with your property valuer as with a doctor. Furnish all the details concerning your property to the valuer. This will motivate the valuer to treat your property valuation application more favorably. Also give the valuer the room to frankly present their authentic arguments against any specific bargains that you may have.

4. Plan the Property Renovations in Advance: Renovations if any should be dealt with way before the arrival of the property. Since the valuer is entrusted with the duty to value the property and fixtures, furniture’s as they are on that day when they visit your property. Any postponements of renovations are not going to benefit your valuations. Also, don’t spend unreasonably on the renovations just for the sake of capitalizing, if it is not required.

5. Be Enduring: It will pay to be patient and allow the valuer enough time to reach to their valuation figures instead of nagging on them right away as they finish their work. Valuers work actually begins after they conclude the inspection of your property. After visiting your property they apply suitable methodology to the figures of your property for determining the actual value.

Following these above mentioned steps will only benefit you positively.

Having the right information and knowledge at all points in time is extremely important for any business. The same applied to property valuation also. As the market becomes more competitive and as customers become more internet and information savvy, it is important for property valuers to also keep pace with changing times and changing customer preferences and needs. Towards this objective it would not be a bad idea to try the idea of being a member of a group that has like-minded persons belonging to the real estate and particularly from the valuation business.

When you are a member of such organization either online or offline, you stand to benefit from more ways than one. You get the latest trends in property price movement, demand and supply situation and government rules and regulations. All these go a long way in impacting the real estate valuation business. When a real estate valuer is equipped with the latest information he would also be able to handle his customers better.

Quite a few changes are also happening to the real estate valuation rules and regulations on a periodical basis. By being a member of such interest groups, it is possible for the real estate valuers to have the latest information on such changes before even the customers come to know of it. This again will be a value addition when it comes to handling customers and looking out for new business.

Last but not the least, by being a member of such groups, especially on the internet, it is possible to network better and build new relationships which are so very crucial for moving the business to the next higher level. Hence, taking the above facts into consideration it makes sense to be associated with such groups on a regular basis. There are today a number of such groups and becoming a member of a few of them is not a difficult task at all.

Valuation is a service and not a product and this factor has to be understood by any property valuation company Melbourne however big or small his business might be. When it comes to marketing a product or service amongst the various important points, maintaining good relationship with customers and other stake holders is very important. When we talk about customers, apart from individuals we should also pay a lot of attention to banks and financial institutions who often contribute huge chunks of property valuation business.

The next important point that helps real estate valuers reach higher levels of success is to find out innovative and new methods to reach more prospects and customers. While word of mouth and personal relationships are the backbone for building a flourishing and successful real estate business, it is important to also find out the need to have an eye towards changing customer preferences and needs. Today the internet is playing a big role and therefore good valuation companies should make a beginning by having a website of their own.

The website should be well structured and designed and provide interesting and useful information to the viewers. Further it should also have an interactive module based on which customer queries can be answered online within a reasonable period of time. Last but not the least there is also the need to online application facility for customers who are too busy to visit real estate valuation companies on a regular basis.

Driving traffic to the website is another point that needs to be kept in mind while planning to move from one level of success to another. This is possible only through effective and continuous usage of SEO campaigns and through other means. Use of Google Adsense is a step which could yield good results.

Last but not the least becoming member of a good professional organization also could play a big role in helping your real estate business go to the next higher level of success. For example if you take the trouble of becoming a member of a renowned local or national Chamber of Commerce it certainly will help your business quite well.

Whenever looking for a valuation company Adelaide, it is always advisable to go in for big and reputed names instead of looking for individual and nondescript companies. Though the latter may be able to offer their services at much lower cost, they would leave much to desire as far as quality of services are concerned. Hence, it is always better to look for reputed, experienced and qualified valuers to help you do the job for you. There is also no doubt that you should only look for valuers who have a formal qualification to back them up. They should be able to undertake any type of valuation and should restrict themselves only to simple or vanilla valuations.

Given the importance of technology it is also important to look for valuers who have their own websites. This will help the prospective customers to have a decent look at their reputation and credentials. It would not be also out of place to mention here that there are many valuers who have started offering online valuation facilities which certainly is a great value add for customers. Today’s customers are very hard pressed for time and hence this facility will certainly will have many takers.

Apart from the above, it is also not a bad idea to look for valuers who are well connected with banks and other financial institutions. This is extremely important because it will go a long way in helping prospective customers to find mortgage loans that much easier. Hence, at the end of the day, given the high levels of competitions it is important to look for valuers who are able to offer everything under one umbrella. Secondly, they should also have value additions to the customers (online valuation as mentioned above). While cost is also an important factor, as mentioned earlier this should not be sole criterion for recruiting a valuer.

First and foremost, valuers in Perth should understand the need to add more value to their customers. It may not be possible to survive on what is called work-to-rule. This is because new rules are being written every day in the valuation business and hence what was relevant yesterday may not be relevant today. Valuers therefore are required to reinvent the wheel and find out new was by which they can add significant additional value to the customers.

Talking about various ways and means by which new value can be added to customers, the first starting point is the need to go online. Having a website of your own is the first requirement for any valuation company however old or new it might be. This is because today’s customers use the internet quite extensively for seeking information. Since valuation at the end of the day is a product there is a need to make prospective customers aware of the various specialties that you have to offer. This can be best done with the help of a website.

The website should also be linked to popular social networking sites which will go a long way in increasing traffic to it. Further it would not be a bad idea to try and offer online valuations to customers. This is becoming very critical and could change the way your business is being done. You could be one of the few who is really walking the talk as far as providing true value to customers is concerned. Given the tight time schedules that many customers find themselves today, such online valuations is certainly a boon for them. Hence, the best bet to sail over competition is to be present aggressively on the internet.

The main reason why business is becoming tough in the real estate valuation market in Brisbane is because margins are getting squeezed very badly. The 2008 financial disaster and its aftermath have left many real estate promoters and owners tottering. Further many customers also started suffering and the entire market went into a downswing. In such a situation the demand for valuation work also plummeted. This resulted in many established companies cutting costs and also cutting down on the rates to remain afloat in the market place. This resulted in a big dip in the rates at which these valuations were done. The rates at times were so low that it became unviable and unsustainable for many valuers. Eventually they had to shut shop and look for other avenues.

All this has resulted in a total negative sentiment as far as the valuation market is concerned. However, things started improving over the past two to three years. Many new entrants came into the market. Being new players the only way they could compete in the market was by offering lower rates. Hence, the cycle of depressed rates continues even today.

Given the above situations, if you are a real estate valuation company, you should find out ways and means by which you could improve your business and take it to the next higher level. Building relationships and networking with people, banks, financial institutions, real estate lawyers and attorneys, and government revenue departments are a few options that you could exercise in your bid to reach out to more numbers of customers. You should also leverage effectively the strength and power of the internet. You should be actively present in networking websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin just to name a few.

It is also expected that you should be able to take up any type of valuation and should not restrict your business just to real estate property valuation alone. Even in real estate valuation, you should be ready to handle complex and complicated valuations ranging from backdated valuations to compensation valuations.

Though it is quite possible that we would have heard about property valuation services it is quite unlikely that we would have much though about it. This is quite acceptable because for average customers buying or selling homes does not happen often. For many it could be an event that could happen only once or twice in their entire life cycle. However the fact of the matter remains that valuation is very important at some point in life. It is required for moving from a rented home to an own-home. Even when you are renovating or refurbishing a home it is important for you to go in for property valuation.

The main purpose for which property valuation is done is to find out the fair value of the property in question. The main objective of property valuation is to protect both the buyers and sellers interests. The sellers would like to know the real value and worth of the property that they are planning to sell. On the other hand the buyer would like to be certain that he is paying only the right price and nothing more when it comes to purchasing a property which he or she likes. Hence, for both these professionals, there is no doubt that property valuation has a very important role to play.

Apart from the two main stakeholders as mentioned above, there are also others who have an interest in property valuation reports. For example banks and financial institutions depend very heavily on these reports. It helps them to not only have a correct idea about the fair market value of the property. It also helps them to find out what exactly is the funding amount that is eligible. This is directly proportional to the value as reported by the property valuers.

Real estate lawyers and attorneys also have the need for property valuation because they need to take it up with their respective stakeholders. Whenever there is a need to fix property tax, property lawyers mostly depend on the valuation reports submitted by qualified and experienced valuers. In the same light, whenever there is a need to fix the stamp duty payable on a particular property, there will be the need to value the same. Even real estate companies, promoters and builders and even quite a few real estate agents need to take help from valuers when it comes to finding out the fair market value of the property in question.

While there is no doubt that property valuation is a very important component of any real estate buying and selling, there is at many levels lack of knowledge and information about the subject matter. This lack of knowledge or wrong information at times results in customers trying to go in for property valuation on their own. This could create more problems than solution. One has to understand that property valuation is very difficult and complex though it might look quite easy from the outside. Many of us often get carried away by the fact that the valuation report is just a piece of small information that mentions about the fair market value of the property in question. However, it is much beyond that because there are other qualitative pieces of information that are extremely important.

Let us try and find out over the next few lines some common myths and belief about property valuation.

• Property valuation can be done by the customers themselves and paying money to professionals for this job is a waste. This is a common myth that exists amongst many customers. As mentioned above, valuation of property is not easy and there are a number of inputs, information and other attributes that are required for getting the accurate market value of a property in question. Trying some vague DIY methods will certainly lead to more problems than solutions.

• It is only the indoors of the house that matters when property valuation is done. This again is a result of wrong information. When you are planning to buy or sell a home apart from the indoors the quality of outdoors should also be taken into account. The quality of garden and the maintenance of the backyard are a few examples that could result in valuations going up by quite a few thousand dollars.

• Banks and financial institutions have a habit of manipulating property valuation figures to end up funding lower amount. This is again not the right information because valuation is not by bank personnel but handed over to independent valuers who have a good reputation and goodwill. No professional valuers would be willing to stake their entire profession and goodwill just for a few hundred dollars.

• Property valuers can handle all types of valuations. This is again a myth because there are some special types of valuations of movable and immovable assets which are not exactly under the domain of property valuers. Hence, identifying the right valuer for the right property is very important.

Valuation of property might look very small and irrelevant. However, whenever a property is bought or sold the role of property valuers and appraisers becomes extremely important and crucial. They not only help the buyers, sellers and other stake holders to have a reasonably accurate idea about the fair market value of the property in question, but they also help in many other ways. A well presented and professional valuers report has information pertaining to the infrastructure available in the area where the property is located. It also makes a mention about the quality of amenities and facilities available in the locality. Hence it would be wrong to suggest that valuation report is just another piece of paper.

While there is no denying the fact that property valuation forms a very important component of real estate buying and selling, the market is quite tough for these professionals and service providers. There are two main reasons for this. First and foremost, the levels of competition in the real estate valuation business have increased quite substantially. Hence, there is lot of price undercutting which is making the going tough even for established players. Secondly, customers are becoming smarter and more internet savvy. Therefore trying to woo customers using the conventional ways and means may not always work.

Given the above situation it is very important for property valuers to find out smarter and innovative means to beat competition. Towards this objective there are quite a few things that can be done. First and foremost it is very important to harness the power and reach of the interne to the advantage of one’s real estate valuation business. This can be done by having a website to begin with. However, steps must be taken to increase the footfalls to the website. This has to be done through various marketing activities that are common on the internet. SEO strategies, taking part in web awards and competitions are some simple ways and means by which one can help increase footfalls in their websites.

Apart from the above there is also the need to look for other conventional ways and means by which competition can be overcome. A classic example is trying and taking membership in reputed chambers of commerce. Some of the most successful real estate valuation stories could be attributed to the decision of becoming members of a few reputed chambers of commerce. This is the place where even small time valuers can aspire to find some big clients.

Property valuation is one of the most important steps that need to be gone through before a property ownership changes hands from one person to another. Since property valuation is not an easy job and there are quite a few complexities involved it is quite natural for most of the customers to have it outsourced. But finding out the right property valuers is not an easy job. This is because there are dozens of valuers out there in the market place. Secondly, as a customer it is important for us to understand what exactly are the requirements to keep in mind while choosing a property valuer. Further, there are also other important attributes to be kept in mind while choosing a property valuation company or individual. Here are a few important points that could help you to differentiate between a good valuer and an excellent one.

First foremost when identifying a property valuer it is important to ensure that the company or individual is certified. They should be permitted under the law to carry out the business that they are doing. Getting valuation done from an uncertified valuer will cause more damage than solutions. The next important point to keep in mind is to recruit valuers who have put in at least 10 to 15 years of service in their business. Experience is of paramount importance because of many reasons. Though qualification and capability are vital, it has been found that experienced valuers would be in a position to handle even the most complicated valuation without much of a bother.

The important attribute of a good valuer is that he or she should be able to handle almost any type of property valuation that one could think of. Apart from simple property valuations they should also be able to handle complicated assignments like backdated or retrospective property valuation. It will also be pertinent to mention here that quality valuers should be able to use various tools and methods of valuation to suit specific requirements from customers. Offering online valuation is another important point that could go a long way in making customers flock around a particular property valuer. Given the time constraints that most customers are in, it would be indeed a great value addition for them if they were given the option of online valuation.

Last but not the least, timely delivery of services at rates that are reasonable and competitive are also attributes that go in deciding whether a valuer is good or excellent.